After working overseas for a year, how do I find the right person to handle my taxes?

Answer 1

Call a couple of professional tax preparers and asked them about their experience with foreign earnings returns. The key issues is the period that you were out of the country. Getting that right can exclude as much as $82,400 of your overseas income. The trick is that it needs to be 365 days in a row not a calendar year. The following link will take you to the Form 2555EZ which is the short form for this exclusion. The IRS has not issued the Form 2555 which is the long form due to some late changes in the law regarding housing allowance for overseas employees.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2555ez.pdf
If the person you call knows nothing about these points, look for another preparer.

Answer 2

Are you still overseas? Many major cities abroad have tax professionals who can handle your US return and a return for the country you are in.

Many US embassies and consulates keep lists of professionals in their locality.

Answer 3

It largely depends on how much you earned and how complex your tax affairs are. TurboTax is fairly easy to use, even for foreign earned income exclusion, so if you were confident using it before try it again.

Also review these:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=118912,00.html (new rules on foreign issues)
and the following 3 pages on the foreign earned income exclusion:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96822,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=97131,00.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96994,00.html